The aux1 Mutation of Arabidopsis Confers Both Auxin and Ethylene Resistance

Mutagenized populations of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings were screened for plants capable of root growth on inhibitory concentrations of the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid. Four of the mutant lines recovered from this screen display a defect in root gravitropism as well as hormone resistance. The aerial portions of these plants are similar to wild-type in appearance. Genetic analysis of these four mutants demonstrated that hormone resistance segregated as a recessive trait and that all four mutations were alleles of the auxin-resistant mutation aux1 [Maher HP, Martindale SJB (1980) Biochem Genet 18: 1041-1053]. These new mutants have been designated aux1-7, 1-12, 1-15, and 1-19. The sensitivity of wild-type and aux1-7 roots to indole-3-acetic acid, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and ethylene was determined. The results of these assays show that aux1-7 plants require a 12-fold (indole-3-acetic acid) or 18-fold (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) higher concentration of auxin than wild-type for a 50% inhibition of root growth. In addition, ethylene inhibition of root growth in aux1-7 plants is approximately 30% that of wild-type at saturating ethylene concentrations. These results indicate that aux1 plants are resistant to both auxin and ethylene. We have also determined the effect of ethylene treatment on chlorophyll loss and peroxidase activity in the leaves of aux1 and wild-type plants. No difference between mutant and wild-type plants was observed in these experiments, indicating that hormone resistance in aux1 plants may be limited to root growth. Our studies suggest that the AUX1 gene may have a specific function in the hormonal regulation of gravitropism.     

Hormone-resistant mutants of Arabidopsis have an attenuated response to agrobacterium strains

We have examined the response of the hormone-resistant mutants axr1 and axr2 of Arabidopsis thaliana to inoculation by Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Our results indicate that recessive mutations in the axr1 gene affect the frequency of tumor formation after inoculation with either Agrobacterium strain. In addition, tumors produced on axr1 plants were smaller than those growing on wild-type plants. These results indicate that the product of the AXR1 gene is important for both crown gall and hairy root tumor formation. In contrast, the dominant axr2 mutation has a more severe effect on the development of crown gall tumors than on hairy root tumors. Crown gall tumors produced on axr2 plants had a different morphology than wild-type tumors and did not grow when they were removed from the explant. In contrast, a large number of hairy root tumors were produced on wild-type and axr2 plants, and both types of tumors grew when they were removed from the explant. Like the roots of axr2 plants, roots produced on axr2 explants lacked root hairs.     

The Network of Knowledge approach: improving the science and society dialogue on biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe

The absence of a good interface between scientific and other knowledge holders and decision-makers in the area of biodiversity and ecosystem services has been recognised for a long time. Despite recent advancements, e.g. with the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), challenges remain, particularly concerning the timely provision of consolidated views from different knowledge domains. To address this challenge, a strong and flexible networking approach is needed across knowledge domains and institutions. Here, we report on a broad consultation process across Europe to develop a Network of Knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services (NoK), an approach aiming at (1) organising institutions and knowledge holders in an adaptable and responsive framework and (2) informing decision-makers with timely and accurate biodiversity knowledge. The consultation provided a critical analysis of the needs that should be addressed by a NoK and how it could complement existing European initiatives and institutions at the interface between policy and science. Among other functions, the NoK provides consolidated scientific views on contested topics, identification of research gaps to support relevant policies, and horizon scanning activities to anticipate emerging issues. The NoK includes a capacity building component on interfacing activities and contains mechanisms to ensure its credibility, relevance and legitimacy. Such a network would need to ensure credibility, relevance and legitimacy of its work by maximizing transparency and flexibility of processes, quality of outputs, the link to data and knowledge provision, the motivation of experts for getting involved and sound communication and capacity building.     

Development and validation of a UPLC/MS method for a nutritional metabolomic study of human plasma

In order to study the effect of a diet on metabolites found in body fluids such as plasma, we have developed and validated a UPLC/MS method. While methods using NMR have been well established to analyse different biological tissues, recent studies have described robust untargeted UPLC-MS methods for plasma analysis. One major concern when profiling plasma is the presence of an important quantity of proteins which have to be precipitated without any loss of metabolites prior to LC/MS analysis. The utilization of untargeted approaches in nutritional metabolomics still suffers from the lack of identification of specific biomarkers. We therefore suggest an alternative method still using a global approach but focusing at the same time on metabolites previously described in human plasma in order to detect biomarkers of metabolic dysregulations. Thus, to fulfil our objectives, analytical parameters were tested (i) the anticoagulant type for sample collection, (ii) the protein precipitation method and (iii) UPLC/MS analytical conditions. Three protein precipitation methods and two anticoagulants were tested and compared. The method utilizing blood collection on heparin and methanol precipitation was chosen for giving the most reproducible results while keeping the complexity of the sample. Finally, a validation was proposed to evaluate the stability of this analytical method applied to a large batch of samples for nutritional metabolomic studies.     

Sex and hormonal modification of 6-keto-PGF1α release by rat aorta

The stable breakdown product of prostacyclin, 6-keto-PGF_1α, was estimated in plasma samples after incubation with rat aortic rings. The 6-keto-PGF_1α concentration obtained with the male aortae was two-fold higher than that of the female. Ovariectomy markedly increased 6-keto-PGF_1α six-fold, but castration had no effect. Estradiol and progesterone treatment of the ovariectomized female suppressed (by 50%) and enhanced (two-fold) 6-keto-PGF_1α. Testosterone was without effect in gonadectomized males and females. Castrate males did not respond to gonadal steroid treatment.     

Dietary fatty acids promote sleep through a taste‐independent mechanism

Consumption of foods that are high in fat contribute to obesity and metabolism‐related disorders. Dietary lipids are comprised of triglycerides and fatty acids, and the highly palatable taste of dietary fatty acids promotes food consumption, activates reward centers in mammals and underlies hedonic feeding. Despite the central role of dietary fats in the regulation of food intake and the etiology of metabolic diseases, little is known about how fat consumption regulates sleep. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, provides a powerful model system for the study of sleep and metabolic traits, and flies potently regulate sleep in accordance with food availability. To investigate the effects of dietary fats on sleep regulation, we have supplemented fatty acids into the diet of Drosophila and measured their effects on sleep and activity. We found that flies fed a diet of hexanoic acid, a medium‐chain fatty acid that is a by‐product of yeast fermentation, slept more than flies starved on an agar diet. To assess whether dietary fatty acids regulate sleep through the taste system, we assessed sleep in flies with a mutation in the hexanoic acid receptor Ionotropic receptor 56D, which is required for fatty acid taste perception. We found that these flies also sleep more than agar‐fed flies when fed a hexanoic acid diet, suggesting the sleep promoting effect of hexanoic acid is not dependent on sensory perception. Taken together, these findings provide a platform to investigate the molecular and neural basis for fatty acid‐dependent modulation of sleep.     

Transferability,development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and application to the analysis of genetic diversity and population structure of the African fan palm (Borassus aethiopum Mart.) in Benin

Biological pathways play an important role in the occurrence, development and recovery of complex diseases, such as cancers, which are multifactorial complex diseases that are generally caused by mutation of multiple genes or dysregulation of pathways. We propose a path-specific effect statistic (PSE) to detect the differential specific paths under two conditions (e.g. case VS. control groups, exposure Vs. nonexposure groups). In observational studies, the path-specific effect can be obtained by separately calculating the average causal effect of each directed edge through adjusting for the parent nodes of nodes in the specific path and multiplying them under each condition. Theoretical proofs and a series of simulations are conducted to validate the path-specific effect statistic. Applications are also performed to evaluate its practical performances. A series of simulation studies show that the Type I error rates of PSE with Permutation tests are more stable at the nominal level 0.05 and can accurately detect the differential specific paths when comparing with other methods. Specifically, the power reveals an increasing trends with the enlargement of path-specific effects and its effect differences under two conditions. Besides, the power of PSE is robust to the variation of parent or child node of the nodes on specific paths. Application to real data of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), we successfully identified 14 positive specific pathways in mTOR pathway contributing to survival time of patients with GBM. All codes for automatic searching specific paths linking two continuous variables and adjusting set as well as PSE statistic can be found in supplementary materials.  The proposed PSE statistic can accurately detect the differential specific pathways contributing to complex disease and thus potentially provides new insights and ways to unlock the black box of disease mechanisms.